When patients argue they don't know what's in a coronavirus vaccine, one Louisiana doctor says he shows them the ingredients in Twinkies. We talked to him and other doctors around the U.S. frustrated with vaccine misinformation. https://t.co/RSjGls2qJL
— The Associated Press (@AP) October 4, 2021
Covid shots saved the lives of 39,000 older & disabled people in the United States through May of this year, according to a new federal report. From Jan-May, vaccination prevented ~265k cases, 107k hospitalizations & 39k deaths among Medicare recipients https://t.co/eTPDG4f37X pic.twitter.com/KE7gfnZr5l
— delthia ricks ? (@DelthiaRicks) October 6, 2021
The pandemic brought to the surface a tide of inequalities and disparities, especially when it comes to excess deaths. New report in the Annals of Internal Medicine: https://t.co/Zu2nTwNqbR
— delthia ricks ? (@DelthiaRicks) October 5, 2021
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NEW: We've launched a U.S. international #COVID19 vaccine donation tracker, which will be updated daily. See U.S. donation deliveries by country, region, income, product, delivery mechanism, and more (and download the data), here: https://t.co/BY8SVpcw1G
— Jen Kates (@jenkatesdc) October 5, 2021
S.Korea to vaccinate pregnant women as it races to 80% target for adults https://t.co/tEAOdL77Ua pic.twitter.com/ncfpuHY8Kr
— Reuters (@Reuters) October 6, 2021
the covid picture in singapore is *good*. the vaccines are doing exactly what they should. cases are going up, but serious illness and death are not. children appear to be at very little risk
— Gerry Doyle (@mgerrydoyle) October 6, 2021
Merck says deal signed with Singapore on COVID-19 antiviral pill https://t.co/KQHAxINRqx pic.twitter.com/nqjJt47lH8
— Reuters (@Reuters) October 6, 2021
Of course, Russia is massaging its pandemic numbers. But the pattern of such massaging is what its citizens are supposed to understand: If the state (now) says the numbers are bad and getting steadily worse, that’s significant!
Russia broke its daily coronavirus deaths record Wednesday, passing 900 fatalities as officials warn that new case numbers have tripled since last fall and are on course to pass the 30,000 markhttps://t.co/cCE3QkS0V3
— The Moscow Times (@MoscowTimes) October 6, 2021
Portugal has nearly run out of people to vaccinate. What comes next?https://t.co/LVXxEou6BH
— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) October 1, 2021
Schools in England drop mask mandates, but questions rise along w cases. England is taking more risks than many US schools as a way of returning to normal. Many parents approve, but more than 180,000 students have been absent in recent weeks https://t.co/931MATzGp3
— delthia ricks ? (@DelthiaRicks) October 6, 2021
Republic of Ireland 'close to suppressing' Covid https://t.co/dGKoFx8AoC
— BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) October 5, 2021
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Rapid at-home tests are about to become more widely available, according to the FDA. Competing at-home tests have been available for months, but Acon Lab's test, newly authorized by the FDA, is expected to double rapid at-home testing capacity in the US https://t.co/lL9bmqCQ26
— delthia ricks ? (@DelthiaRicks) October 6, 2021
COVID vaccines cut the risk of transmitting Delta â but not for long.
People who receive 2 Covid shots & later contract the Delta variant are less likely to infect close contacts than are unvaccinated people with Delta https://t.co/tq5CLRdazo
— delthia ricks ? (@DelthiaRicks) October 5, 2021
For the unvaccinated, reinfection by SARSCoV2 is likely, according to new research, which found protection after natural infection is short-lived. Study is the 1st to determine the potential for reinfection after natural infection among the unvaccinated https://t.co/ysavGcJwQq
— delthia ricks ? (@DelthiaRicks) October 5, 2021
Study reveals why some people get Covid toe condition https://t.co/1jStrJgij9
— BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) October 6, 2021
Hospital network says it will deny transplants to the unvaccinated in âalmost all situations.â A Colorado-health system says it's denying organ transplants to unvaxxed patients citing studies showing they're more likely to die if they get Covid https://t.co/8tS719EGp9 pic.twitter.com/gSHwyj44KC
— delthia ricks ? (@DelthiaRicks) October 6, 2021
A maker of rapid Covid tests recalls nearly 200,000 kits over concerns of false positives. The Australian company traced the problem to variations in the quality of a single, unidentified material https://t.co/z93RghCxhW
— delthia ricks ? (@DelthiaRicks) October 5, 2021
The cardiovascular burden of COVID-19 at 1 year follow-up of over 150,000 individuals, in comparison with controls, is substantial https://t.co/8BIzkMD5OX#LongCovid @DeptVetAffairs by @zalaly and colleagues pic.twitter.com/Bw4oxeHqK2
— Eric Topol (@EricTopol) October 5, 2021
Nearly a quarter of parents say they have a child who had to quarantine for possible #COVID19 exposure since the school year began, as the pandemic continues to disrupt in-person classes. https://t.co/jimhTKytnA
— KFF (Kaiser Family Foundation) (@KFF) October 5, 2021
======
Hospitals in less-vaccinated areas are struggling financially as infections mount. Covid is burdening U.S. hospitals with extra labor costs at the rate of about $24 billion a year https://t.co/M5x78zWRAP
— delthia ricks ? (@DelthiaRicks) October 6, 2021
âParents are exhausted on a level weâve not seen before.â Between the exhaustion of worrying about COVID-19 exposure and the need to navigate policies at schools and day care centers, the pandemic is still agonizing for families. https://t.co/ztKUBUYGNl
— The Associated Press (@AP) October 5, 2021
The biggest employers are successfully enacting vaccine mandates. Many smaller ones need help. https://t.co/RCdgxUirXX
— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) October 5, 2021
The Treasury Department has ordered Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey to stop using federal pandemic funding on grants to schools without mask mandates. Itâs the latest push back by the Biden administration against Republican governors who oppose the mandates.https://t.co/cFs9hZ8Ezo
— The Associated Press (@AP) October 5, 2021
Covid cases in kids are soaring. In Tennessee, most remain unmasked and unvaccinated. The state has been the site of super-crazy school board meetings where parents have threatened the lives of public health officials who support masks https://t.co/0fMCAjIiJY
— delthia ricks ? (@DelthiaRicks) October 6, 2021
Texas anti-vaxxers importing supplies from China. Counterfeit vaccine cards & ivermectin headed to Houston seized in Chicago. US Customs officers confiscated 4 packages bound for Houston & Seagraves Texas. 21 fake vax cards in 1 package, 20 in another https://t.co/GOcO0mnBOM
— delthia ricks ? (@DelthiaRicks) October 5, 2021
they called the paratroopers on d-day "heroes" yet when uncle pete cut a bunch of holes in his parachute then flattened himself on the roof of the cheesecake factory he was "a lunatic." what could explain this? pic.twitter.com/E0nEbsRPDG
— Starfish Who Just Wants To Grill (@IRHotTakes) October 5, 2021
the vaccine is free
The vaccine is free
Stop humping Joe Rogan's leg for five seconds and repeat after me
THE VACCINE IS FREE pic.twitter.com/ETQnnhJINb
— Syndicalist Weedle Collective (@Weedledouble) October 5, 2021
My rage at the anti-vaxxers is quiet but enduring, a part of me as hot and as hidden as the earthâs molten core. You did this wave to us.
— Paul Musgrave ??? (@profmusgrave) October 5, 2021
raven
Hmm, I had a badly swollen and red big toe a couple of weeks back. We did prednisone and it went away.
NeenerNeener
Monroe County, NY:
175 new cases yesterday, 3.7% test positivity.
NYSDOH says 185 new cases.
YY_Sima Qian
On 10/5 China reported 2 new domestic confirmed cases & 1 new domestic asymptomatic cases.
Fujian Province did not report any new domestic positive cases. 23 domestic confirmed cases recovered. There currently are 219 active domestic confirmed cases.
Heilongjiang Province reported 1 new domestic confirmed case. 1 domestic confirmed case recovered. There currently are 81 active domestic confirmed & 6 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the province.
Horgos border crossing in Yili Prefecture, Xinjiang âAutonomousâ Region reported 1 new domestic confirmed case, traced close contact already under centralized quarantine since 10/3. There currently are 1 active domestic confirmed & 2 active domestic asymptomatic cases there.
Yunnan Province reported 1 new domestic asymptomatic case, at Ruili in Dehong Prefecture, a traced close contact already under centralized quarantine since 10/1. There currently are 9 active domestic confirmed & 4 domestic asymptomatic cases remaining in the province, all at Ruili in Dehong Prefecture.
At Henan Province there currently are 7 active domestic confirmed cases remaining, all at Shangqiu.
Imported Cases
On 10/5, China reported 24 new imported confirmed cases (1 previously asymptomatic), 11 imported asymptomatic cases:
Overall in China, 44 confirmed cases recovered (19 imported), 7 asymptomatic cases were released from isolation (all imported) & 1 was reclassified as confirmed case (imported), & 1,285 individuals were released from quarantine. Currently, there are 838 active confirmed cases in the country (527 imported), 2 in serious condition (1 imported), 352 active asymptomatic cases (338 imported), 0 suspect cases. 26,852 traced contacts are currently under centralized quarantine.
As of 10/4, 2,215.428M vaccine doses have been injected in Mainland China, an increase of 864K doses in the past 24 hrs.
On 10/5, Hong Kong reported 6 new positive cases, all imported (coming from Indonesia, Pakistan, the Ukraine & Russia, 4 of whom had been fully vaccinated).
prostratedragon
Come on Akil Vicks, I know you’ve repeated it 500,000 times already. That just means you have only about 10 million before that we go on to the next thing. Just stretch out and float your way to the top.
What do you mean, “take these shackles off?”
OzarkHillbilly
My oldest Sis got a breakthru infection last week. Kicked her ass for the first few days but on the recovery now. Very happy she got the shot.
debbie
A local woman who was pregnant and hadn’t “gotten around” to being vaccinated developed COVID and was put on a ventilator and had an emergency C-section. She and her newborn are exceedingly luck to have survived.
OzarkHillbilly
@prostratedragon:
Huh? How did he ever get from one to the other?
Benw
I know cognitive dissonance isnât a thing anymore, but do you tweet support for our brave selfless essential healthcare heroes while standing outside the hospital threatening to kill them or like later on?
Punchy
We just had our 1st coworker COVID death. Approx 2 mins of sympathy before it became known he was extremely anti-vax. Suddenly, I couldnt care less. Im heartless this way towards these idiots.
mrmoshpotato
What hot garbage is this?
Baud
@mrmoshpotato:
Imagine a socialist David Brooks.
mrmoshpotato
@Baud: I can’t.
Spanky
@Punchy: Join the crowd.
I’ll be a lot happier when “crowd” becomes “multitude”.
Amir Khalid
Malaysiaâs Ministry of Health reports 9,380 new Covid-19 cases today in its media statement, for a cumulative reported total of 2,303,837 cases. It also reports 117 new deaths as of midnight, for a cumulative total of 26,876 deaths â 1.17% of the cumulative reported total, 1.24% of resolved cases.
Based on cases reported yesterday, Malaysiaâs nationwide Rt is at 0.87.
800 confirmed cases are in ICU, 348 of them on ventilators. Meanwhile, 13,045 more patients have recovered, for a cumulative total of 2,144,681 patients recovered â 93.1% of the cumulative reported total.
11 new clusters were reported today, for a cumulative total of 5,547 clusters. 932 clusters are currently active; 4,615 clusters are now inactive.
9,367 new cases today are local infections. Sarawak reports 1,496 local cases: 23 in clusters, 441 close-contact screenings, and 1,032 other screenings. Kelantan reports 1,170 cases: 43 in clusters, 720 close-contact screenings, and 407 other screenings. Selangor reports 1,116 cases: 46 in clusters, 568 close-contact screenings, and 502 other screenings. Johor reports 1,105 cases: 181 in clusters, 491 close-contact screenings, and 433 other screenings.
Sabah reports 787 local cases: four in clusters, 431 close-contact screenings, and 352 other screenings. Terengganu reports 704 cases: five in clusters, 564 close-contact screenings, and 135 other screenings.
Perak reports 629 cases: 19 in clusters, 336 close-contact screenings, and 274 other screenings.Penang reports 623 cases: 15 in clusters, 199 close-contact screenings, and 409 other screenings.
Kedah reports 556 cases: nine in clusters, 323 close-contact screenings, and 224 other screenings. Pahang reports 511 cases: 33 in clusters, 327 close-contact screenings, and 151 other screenings.
Kuala Lumpur reports 212 local cases: one in a cluster, 82 close-contact screenings, and 129 other screenings.
Melaka reports 199 local cases: six in clusters, 99 close-contact screenings, and 94 other screenings. Negeri Sembilan reports 191 cases: 32 in clusters, 89 close-contact screenings, and 70 other screenings.
Perlis reports 42 cases: nine in clusters, nine close-contact screenings, and 24 other screenings. Putrajaya reports 18 cases: 15 close-contact screenings and three other screenings. Labuan reports eight cases: three close-contact screenings and five other screenings.
13 new cases today are imported: seven in Sarawak, three in Sabah, two in Kuala Lumpur, and one in Melaka.
The National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme (PICK) administered 224,034 doses of vaccine on 5th October: 122,153 first doses and 101,881 second doses. As of midnight yesterday, the cumulative total is 44,707,925 doses administered: 24,085,144 first doses and 20,819,254 second doses. 73.8% of the population have received their first dose, while 63.8% are now fully vaccinated.
Geminid
@mrmoshpotato: Now that “The Squad” has disappointed lefties by not forming the anticipated Tea Party of the Left, the folks at Jerkobin are flailing for relevance..
New Deal democrat
It has turned into 3 separate stories in the US. In the originally hard hit South, cases are down about 53,000/day from their peak of 94,000 or close to 60%. In the rest of the country, cases are only down about 10,000 to about 65,000/day, or about 15%. And cases are actually increasing across almost the entire border with Canada.
While thankfully, there has not been a new peak due to the reopening of schools (although Delta is targeting children more commonly), itâs as if the better pandemic measures in the North and West Coast acted mainly to âflatten the curveâ among the groups most vulnerable. That cases continue to rise in heavily vaccinated northern New England is particularly depressing, since it means 70% of the population fully vaccinated is not enough.
Ken
@mrmoshpotato: Socialist David Brooks is from the Trek mirror universe, so the first step is to imagine Brooks with a goatee.
rikyrah
@OzarkHillbilly:
??????
rikyrah
Finally had the first COVID DEATH of someone that I knew. Former coworker. She retired less than 18 months ago. UNVACCINATED.
Damn shame, ?
rikyrah
@mrmoshpotato:
Just more excuses for the eternal Cletus Safari ?
Matt McIrvin
@New Deal democrat:
The real trouble spots in northern New England are not 70% fully vaccinated, they’re in the fifties. There’s some spillover to adjoining areas with more vaccination. Some of the towns with high vaccination had a spike but are already recovering.
Essex County, MA is about 68% fully vaxxed and cases are finally dropping here, but our ICUs are overstressed mostly because we had a shortage of beds to begin with. I’ve been eyeing the situation further north with apprehension though.
NotMax
FYI.
mrmoshpotato
@rikyrah:
Yup. Giving DougJ’s pitchbot a run for the money.
debbie
@rikyrah:
One of the members of my six-person team at work died from COVID back in the early days. A second one’s been on leave for more than a month. I spent an awful lot of time messaging back and forth with her about getting vaccinated. She wasn’t dismissing the disease, but she objected to any suggestion that vaccines could be required, and she totally freaked out about it at the last team meeting she attended. And with a child! I just don’t get people anymore.
MomSense
@New Deal democrat:
70% is definitely not enough. Â In Maine we have coddled these idiot antivaxxers for decades by allowing religious and philosophical exemptions for school vaccine requirements. Â We finally ended it in 2018 and it took effect this year. Â They tried to repeal the law with a citizen referendum but it failed. The problem is I think a lot of these assholes moved here, burrowed in to the woo woo medicine culture and fed their purity fetishes. Â No poison is going to render their little Johnny impure.
Then there are TFG cultists from rural counties who have clogged up our hospitals thanks to their idiocy and selfishness.
Iâm so done with them. Â They should be denied access to hospitals if they didnât get vaccinated.
debbie
@MomSense:
They should bear the full cost of any treatment they may need.
Matt McIrvin
@MomSense: I’ve been looking at the NYT maps. The Maine counties where the big infection spike is happening are about 54, 55% vaccinated. But if you look at the hospitalization map, they’re taking up all the beds in Bangor, where local vaccination is higher.
Suzanne
@mrmoshpotato: The way I interpreted that statement is that loads of people think that pharma companies are profit-seeking (true) and that they will push doctors to prescribe drugs with perhaps-not-that-high efficacy (somewhat true, Aduhelm comes to mind) if they are profitable, and so pharma companies are likely pushing stuff that doesnât work against Covid (thatâs a leap). Where their logic totally falls apart is that the horse-paste and crazy supplement companies are also seeking profit and thus have the same motivation to push shit that doesnât work, only they get to do it with even less regulation and quality control. WINNING!
Maybe that isnât what Jacobin meant, but the profit-seeking of pharma companies does freak a lot of people out.
MomSense
@Matt McIrvin:
Yup. Â I live and work in a county which is the 2nd or 3rd (depending on the day) most vaccinated county in the country and theyâre filling up our hospitals, too.
Butter Emails!!!
@mrmoshpotato:
I’ve read a similar article lacking Jacobins signature obstinate wrong headed trollishness. It seems pretty clear that lack of resources and lack of experience with or even shitty treatment by the medical system is going to lead to distrust and avoidance of the system and adoption of alternatives by marginalized populations.
You can definitely extend that to Covid vaccination rates of minority groups in the US. Historical and current bad treatment by our medical system combined with a lack of access and inability to take a day off for those in poverty almost certainly impacted vaccination rates.
It’s fucking stupid to pretend it’s the driving force behind the just say neigh to the Covid vaccine movement. I mean just look at the partisan breakdown in the US. Democrats, who are the less affluent, less white party crush Republicans in there vaccination rate.
Sloane Ranger
Tuesday in the UK we had 33,869 new cases, meaning that the rolling 7-day average is now down by 2.3%. New cases by nation,
England – 28,846 (up 595)
Northern Ireland – 1209 (up 129)
Scotland – 2056 (up 296)
Wales – 1758 (down 2228).
Deaths – There were 166 deaths within 28 days of a positive test yesterday but some of these will be due to offices catching up on the weekend backlog. The 7-day rolling average was down by 15.5%. 140 deaths were in England, 3 in Northern Ireland, 21 in Scotland and 2 in Wales.
Testing – 940,981 tests took place on Monday, 4 October. This is a decrease of 11.2% in the rolling 7-day average. The PCR testing capacity reported by labs was 830,605.
Hospitalisations – There were 6747 people in hospitals and 769 on ventilators on Monday, 4 October. The rolling 7-day average for hospital admissions was down by 7.1% as of 1 October.
Vaccinations – As of 4 October, 48,994,530 had received 1 shot of a vaccine and 45,021,381 had had both. Still no update on percentage vaccinated but 37,671 people got their 1st jab on 4th October and 29,337 got their 2nd. The fact that more more 1st jabs were administered is probably due to 12-15 year olds, getting their vaccinations.
New Deal democrat
@Matt McIrvin: Fair point, but on the other hand you could probably take those counties and find some towns more vaccinated, and some less. There is always going to be some variability. So I think the point that an overall vaccination rate of 70% is not enough is still valid.
To have one slightly more optimistic point, clearly in the South as a whole they are nowhere near 70% vaccinated, and yet Delta is rolling out almost as quickly as it rolled in. So thereâs hope for a bigger, more general decline before the likely winter wave rolls in.
Matt McIrvin
@mrmoshpotato: Jacobin’s position has always been that some huge chunk of the white right are socialist allies but don’t know it yet, and they’d come around if only liberals would stop picking on them.
Barbara
The most recent decision on the NYC schools mandate had a nice pithy summary that I wish these refuseniks would read and memorize:
You are asking for no less than the right to harm other people without consequence. Why is that so hard to understand?â
nclurker
pfizer booster yesterday.
other than a sore arm,no problems all day.
woke at 3am for a WC call,and had major chills,chattering teeth,etc.
still a bit shakey this am.
similar to last springs initial two shots.
discretion being the better portion of valor,no regrets.
The Moar You Know
“Herd Immunity” is a concept that we need to realize was rendered moot by Delta. The transmissibility numbers of that variant make herd immunity mathematically impossible. The only way at this point is to do what we did with smallpox, polio and almost pulled off with measles but failed thanks to the at-the-time nascent anti-vax movement – vaccinate everyone.
Robert Sneddon
Scotland â 3,055 new COVID-19 cases reported today. The test positivity rate is 6.9%. There were 34 new deaths reported overnight. ICU bed occupancy numbers are 68, up three from yesterday while hospitalisations are 988, down ten.
There were about 8,000 vaccinations carried out in Scotland yesterday (Tuesday) with about 70% of these being first vaccinations. 91.5% of 16+ adults are now vaccinated with their first dose and 84.7% are fully vaccinated. 72.4% of 16 and 17-year-olds have now received their first vaccination, up 0.2% from yesterday. 27.9% of 12-15 year olds have now received their first vaccination, up 1.9% from yesterday.
smith
@New Deal democrat: But flattening the curve is good! Since the start of the delta wave, approximately on July 1, the highly-vaxxed Northeastern states have seen 6,566 deaths, and the low-vax Southern states have had 63,485, almost a ten-fold difference. In population-adjusted terms, cumulative deaths have risen 50.5/100K in the South, compared to 11.7/100K in the Northeast.
The original promise of covid vaccines was not that they’d be a guarantee against ever catching the disease, but that they’d be protective against serious illness and death, and even with the ravages of delta, that promise seems to have been pretty good. Yes, a higher vax rate everywhere would definitely have been better, and most of those deaths could have been avoided. The fact that they weren’t is part of the shame of this country’s covid responses. But at least we do now have clear and convincing evidence of the effectiveness of the vaccines in minimizing deaths, which makes the argument for mandates that much stronger.
And also a quibble: of the New England states, it’s only ME and NH with increasing case loads; the new case rate is going down in the rest of New England.
Peale
@New Deal democrat: What is likely to happen with Delta now is a convergence. The Northeast is not going to have a spiky wave, but it does have an ongoing wave (cases are 10-15 times higher than they were in June). The South will have something similar to that going forward. We are looking at a few months of stagnation. Elevated levels from June, but not at rates that will threaten to break the hospital systems again. I don’t expect rates to actually decline in the NE until the kids can start to be vaccinated. I also don’t expect the South to continue the downward treand. The decline will level off at much higher rates than in the NE, but well off the catastrophe of this summer.
smith
@Peale:Â Â You can set the graphs at 91-DIVOC to show U.S. census regions; the bottom graph gives you the numbers normalized by population. It’s clear from this graph that the Northeast has passed the peak about two weeks ago, and cases are now declining. The convergence you predict is already evident in the figures. The reason the decline is much smaller in the Northeast than in the South is that, as mentioned above, the curve was flattened there. The Northeast peaked at about 29.7 cases per 100K, the South peaked at 74.5.
UncleEbeneezer
@rikyrah: It’s amazing how long it’s taken to reach some people’s social circles. Â We know about five people who lost parents to Covid, but I know alot of people still don’t know anyone directly or indirectly yet who has died from it.
UncleEbeneezer
@Matt McIrvin: Jacobin’s position has always been Dems Suck, Har Har! Â Everything they write is just a variation of that central premise.
Fair Economist
@Suzanne:The actual manufacturers of horse paste aren’t pushing the nonsense, because they have reputations to uphold. The pushers are Ivermectin script mills which are making tens of millions at least from the gullible marks.
Matt McIrvin
@smith: The rural red areas of the North, including northern New England, are having a big outbreak right now, which is moderating the overall decline of cases in the Northeast. Maine is having trouble and it’s not because of Portland. I’m in the northeast corner of Massachusetts and cases are currently dropping here, but I’m not too confident they will keep dropping.
On the map of the South now, you can see the beginning of the Delta wave in photographic negative–that big zigzag shape that got hit early, Missouri and Arkansas to the Gulf Coast into Florida, is now on the downslope and has lower case rates than elsewhere.
Matt McIrvin
@The Moar You Know: Before COVID, “herd immunity” almost always referred to collectively protecting the population through mass vaccination. The idea that you could get it by just letting the disease burn through the population was a product of conservative brain worms in the early days of the current pandemic. What you get that way is some lower endemic level of disease that never goes away.
Bill Arnold
That Annals of Int Med editorial is bordering on dishonest – it is discussing research through the end of 2020, pre-vaccine, and it is now 2021/10, and politically-motivated disparities in subpopulation vaccination rates are probably (I have not seen a study yet, but high political affiliation correlations with vaccination rates as a proxy for disease rates make it quite plausible) driving most of the current disparities in COVID-19 mortality/morbidity. (Political affiliation can change of course, but it is a useful subpopulation marker in this context, and political dominance drives regional policy differences (e.g. NPIs).)
Reversing the Tide of Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Excess Deaths During the COVID-19 Pandemic (5 October 2021, Yvonne Commodore-Mensah, Lisa A. Cooper)
The editorial is of course true for the time period that it covers.
It should not be ignoring the politically-driven anti-vaccine propaganda (at many scales) that is suppressing US vaccination rates to maybe 10-15 percent below they would be without such malignant (homicidal) propaganda operations.
Mel
@OzarkHillbilly: Â So thankful that she is feeling better!
I nearly lost my brother to Covid at the very start of the pandemic. He then struggled with Long Covid for months.
He got the Moderna series as soon as he qualified, and (bonus!!) had a significant reduction in his Long Covid symptoms after the second shot.
He teaches at a school where there is no mask mandate, no vaccine mandate, and no effective distancing of any sort.
He is extremely careful and masks the entire day, but without the vaccines he would be a sitting duck.
Ruckus
@Suzanne:
I take medication when I get a migraine. 25 yrs ago this was a medication that was on patent and cost me $225 for ten applications, or $22.50 per migraine. I used to purchase it from Canada which cost me $140 delivered, or $14 per migraine. Exactly the same medication but Canada restricted the cost to the consumer. Now that same medication is off patent so I now pay far, far less for the generic form, $1.33 per application.
The original company was taking advantage because they had the only effective medication for many migraine sufferers. It is a real thing, even in an economic system based upon a profitable business system.
Ruckus
I got my booster shot last week at the VA. The number of people getting shots was 50+ per hour and they had 6 people giving them. There was a line out the door. At one point we had to wait about 15 minutes because they had to get more vaccine from the pharmacy. I am wondering how many of those people got their shots when first offered, I got my first shot there at the end of January.
One thing I did find out is that the booster and the additional shot are exactly the same thing and same quantity as the original shot.
Chetan Murthy
@Matt McIrvin:
FTFY. Fuck Jacobin.
Chris T.
@prostratedragon: “It’s easy to laugh at people eating horse paste. But” … it’s not sufficient. We should take their money, too: sell them cheap laxatives at a big markup. It’ll do the same thing for them that the horse paste would.
Chris T.
@MomSense:
… with PFAS and microplastics.
No matter how hard you try to avoid them, you’re already full of chemicals. Well, water is a chemical, so that’s trivially true, but this kind of purity is impossible in the first place; we need to manage our impurities correctly, not strive for purity. Covid is a pretty bad impurity and is airborne. They need to get that through their thick heads.